Judicial Divorce: Procedure

Verified 11 September 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

You want to divorce, but you can't agree on the consequences of divorce (custody of children, division of your property...)? You can start legal proceedings before the family judge. We present you the procedure to follow.

Step-by-step approach

Each of the spouses right take a lawyer to divorce. You are free to choose the lawyer of your choice throughout the territory.

Who shall I contact

You must sign a fee agreement with your lawyer for set his fees.

If your resources are insufficient, you can benefit from legal aid to cover all or part of the costs of the proceedings (lawyer, commissioner of justice).

Warning  

If your lawyer is not located within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of the court hearing your case, he or she should contact a second lawyer, called attorney applying. The applicant lawyer performs the procedural acts in place of your lawyer (for example, he files the conclusions).

It is up to your lawyer to do what is necessary to seize the family judge.

The court is seised by a assignment in divorce.

If you both agree to divorce, you can go to court with a query joint.

The court with territorial jurisdiction is as follows:

  • This is the judge of the place where the family's residence is located
  • If the parents live separately, this is the judge of the residence of the parent with whom the minor children reside
  • In the other cases, the judge of the place where the person who did not initiate the proceedings resides.

In case of joint application, the court having jurisdiction shall, at the option of the parties, be that of the place where either of them resides.

Divorce summons

If you are the applicant spouse for divorce, your lawyer must write the summons in consultation with you

This summons is then transmitted by a commissioner of justice (formerly judicial officer) to your spouse.

The family judge is seized as soon as the summons is filed in court by your lawyer.

If you are the addressee of the divorce summons, you are the defendant spouse. In this case, you must take a lawyer within 15 days if you want to take part in the procedure.

The summons constitutes the conclusions of the applicant spouse, i.e. his/her claims and arguments.

It may indicate the type of divorce sought:

If you wish to request a divorce for misconduct, the lawyer must not indicate this in the summons.

The assignment may contain your requests for provisional measures, that is to say what you want as temporary organization for your property and children during the divorce proceedings.

Provisional measures may concern the spouses and may cover the following:

  • Allocation of family housing and household furniture
  • Delivery of clothing and personal effects
  • Setting of maintenance pursuant to duty to rescue
  • Organization of the assumption by the spouses of their debts and the management of their property
  • Appointment of an expert for the liquidation of their assets and finances.

Provisional measures may concern children and may cover the following:

The summons must contain the following mandatory particulars:

  • Day, time and place of the orientation hearing
  • Proposal to share the wealth and finances of the spouses
  • Reminder of the provisions concerning family mediation and the participatory procedure
  • Approval agreements on the exercise of parental authority and the consequences of divorce, where they exist
  • Mention of the existence of a protection order being enforced, if any.

Warning  

You must attach to your court summons a tax stamp of 50 €, unless you are a beneficiary of legal aid.

Joint request

The joint request can be used when you agree with your husband to go to court together to divorce.

However, you do not have to agree on all the consequences of divorce to use the joint petition.

The application must be drafted by the lawyer of one of the spouses and then filed with the court.

It may contain your points of agreement on the consequences of divorce.

The request may also include your requests for interim measures (temporary organization for your property and your children during the divorce proceedings).

Warning  

You must attach a tax stamp of 50 €, unless you are a beneficiary of legal aid.

You will find the date and time of the orientation hearing in the summons or the divorce petition.

You can be present at the hearing assisted by your lawyer or ask your lawyer to represent you.

Implementation of interim measures

The orientation hearing allows for interim measures (e.g. allocation of housing) to be taken concerning you and your children (e.g. maintenance).

You can waive the introduction of interim measures. In this case, you retain the possibility to request interim measures later in the procedure.

Please note

In the event of a new fact, you have the option to ask the pre-trial judge to modify or remove interim measures later in the proceedings.

Orientation of the file

The hearing leads to one of the following orientations:

  • Setting up a participatory procedure with the consent of the spouses
  • Referral of the case to the refurbishment
  • Referral of the case directly to a hearing (hearing at which the divorce is pleaded).

After the orientation hearing, the file enters a phase of the procedure called refurbishment.

With the agreement of the parties, preconditioning may be replaced by a participatory procedure.

If the defendant spouse has not taken up a lawyer and the plaintiff has not applied for interim measures, there is no pre-trial or participatory procedure. The divorce case is tried directly at a hearing.

Refurbishment

The spouses must prepare the file for trial.

When preparing the file, it is only your lawyer who must ensure communication with the court and your spouse.

The period of preparation of the file is called the refurbishment.

During this period, lawyers must present their requests and their arguments (called means) in a named writing conclusions. The conclusions are prepared in turn by you and your husband. They shall be accompanied by supporting documents.

You and your spouse must exchange all your documents: this is the adversarial principle. All these documents and conclusions are also communicated electronically, by lawyers, at graft from the court.

A judge, called prep judge, has the role of ensuring that your procedure runs smoothly. It checks the file during the pre-trial hearings.

During the pre-trial hearings, the judge shall verify that the exchange of findings and exhibits between the spouses takes place within the time limits set by it. It has powers. For example, it may require a party to conclude the case within a certain period of time, close the case without a party's submissions, or dismiss the case in the event of non-compliance with the party's requests.

Pre-trial hearings are held regularly until the case is ready for trial. They take place virtually : you do not have to go to court.

Please note

The parties may make certain requests to the pre-trial judge, such as requesting an expert opinion (for example, a family medical-psychological opinion).

The duration of preconditioning depends on the number of conclusions you exchange with your spouse, the timeline set by the pre-trial judge, and the nature and difficulty of your case.

Once the file is complete, the pretrial judge closes trading and sets the date for your case to be heard. This hearing is called hearing.

You cannot provide new findings or records after the precondition close date.

Participatory procedure

Spouses may decide to prepare their case without intervention of a judge of the preconditioning. To do this, you sign an agreement with your lawyers participatory procedure. This agreement includes reciprocal commitments and guarantees and is intended to put the case in a state to be tried.

During the procedure, if you have reached a common agreement, and if you wish, you can request to change the procedure in divorce by mutual consent.

On the day of the hearing, you must be represented by your lawyer.

Your lawyer can plead or simply file his case.

At the end of the hearing, the judge shall date of deliberate, that is, the date on which the divorce judgment is rendered.

The judge may decide to give the judgment at a different date than originally scheduled. In this case, a letter to your lawyer indicates the new date of deliberation and the reasons for the postponement.

Please note

You have the right to attend the oral hearing even if your attendance is not mandatory.

Your lawyer must hand you over a certified true copy of the divorce judgment.

The family judge pronounces divorce specifying the legal basis (divorce for permanent alteration of the conjugal relationship, divorce for fault, divorce accepted).

The judge also decides on all applications submitted by the spouses (effective date of divorce, compensatory benefit, residence and child support, use of spouse's name...).

Please note

The divorce may be refused. This is, for example, the case if you are only seeking a fault divorce but the judge considers that no fault is established.

You can challenge the judgment in appealing.

The appeal may allow you to challenge the divorce itself (for example, if the divorce is wrongly pronounced) or its consequences (for example, the amount of the compensatory benefit).

The time limit for filing your appeal is 1 month.

This period shall start from meaning of the decision by a commissioner of justice.

Your appeal is to the court of appeal through a lawyer.

FYI  

If you and your spouse do not wish to contest the divorce decision, you can sign a act of acquiescence. This act simplifies the procedure, since each spouse declares to accept the judgment.

The mention of the divorce must be noted in the margins of your marriage certificate and birth certificates of each of the spouses.

Your lawyers must send the divorce judgment to the town hall of the wedding venue.

If the marriage certificate has been drawn up abroad, your lawyers must send the application to the Central Civil Status Service (Scec).

The town hall or the Scec sends the information to the town halls of the spouses' birth so that they too can update the acts.

FYI  

You can take care of the request to update your marital status if your lawyer does not do so. In this case, you must provide a copy of your divorce decision and the certificate of non-appeal at the town hall of the place where the wedding is celebrated or at the Scec if you have married abroad.

This mention in the margins of the civil status is mandatory so that the divorce is enforceable against third parties, i.e. known and recognized by the administration, the employer, etc.

This does not exempt you from informing third parties, one by one, of your divorce.

You must also do update your family booklet.

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